ABD AIRPORT SPA

The airport operating company has been run by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano since April 2009. It has been tasked with managing and administrating the infrastructures and facilities of the airport, as well as providing its services.

The history of the airport

The official date of birth of Bolzano airport coincides with the approval of Decree No. 1994 from 24 October 1926. This decree explained the de facto seizure of the plot of land for the construction and expansion of the existing structure.

In 1992,“Airport Bolzano Bozen” (ABB) was born – it was handed over to ABD

AIRPORT SPA (ABD) in the same year. Directly after that construction plans started and were completed in 1999. A new terminal, two hangars, a control tower, a parking space and an access road were built. The runway was renewed, the plane parking depot was expanded and a pivotal landing procedure was developed. The airport opened its doors with the first scheduled flights run by Tyrolean Airways.

In the same year, the airstrip was lengthened by around 1,300 m and the plot for night flights was completed. From that moment on, planes with up to 70 passengers could depart and arrive at Bolzano airport. This means that right now scheduled and charter flights such as Saab 2000 (50 seats), Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 (76 seats) can travel to and from the airport. Bolzano airport lends itself well to business planes and is therefore often used by companies and corporate operators of business trip jets.

In 2005 the certification process was closed. Following this, ABD AIRPORT SPA received its airport certificate from ENAC, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority.

Bolzano airport has been using a photovoltaic system since August 2010. This produces a total of 724 KWp per year. It is one of the biggest ‘study parks’ in Europe. The system was co-financed with the support of an ERDF programme.

In March 2011 the South Tyrolean government approved the masterplan regarding the development of Bolzano airport. It enables the assignment of the operational task to local ABD for longer than a year, as was previously the case. The most important measure in the masterplan airport development is how the runway and safety surfaces will be adapted.

At the end of November 2015 the sanitation and maintenance works on the runway requested by ENAC were completed. The asphalt runway was newly grooved and the lighting system running along the airway was replaced with energy efficient LED technology.